John Finch
with, from left, Harry Driver, Jack Rosenthal and H.V. Kershaw.]] Born in Liverpool in 1925 John Finch was the first trainee writer of Coronation Street, contributing 141 scripts from 1961 to 1970, and as well as writing was also the programme's script editor from for 33 episodes from October 1961 to February 1962 during the period of the problematical Equity actors' strike and later produced the show for five months between 4th November 1968 and 5th March 1969. He also wrote episodes of the spin-offs Pardon the Expression and Turn out the Lights and script-edited the farce play Coronation Street on the Road which was presented to its 1964 audiences under the title Firm Foundations. He created and contributed most of the scripts of the highly successful Granada series A Family at War (1970 - 1972) and both created and wrote all thirty-nine episodes of Sam (1973 - 1975), basing it on his own childhood experiences in a South Yorkshire mining town. He also created This Year, Next Year, Flesh and Blood, The Spoils of War and Capstick's Law. He also contributed many scripts for series such as The Villains, City 68, The Plane Makers and The Verdict is Yours. He has written of the debt he owes of H.V. Kershaw for getting him started and trained as a writer and was one of the editors of the book Granada - the First Generation which contained essays from many of the people who worked on Coronation Street in the 1960s and 1970s. He has sometimes been credited on other programmes as John Ellison. External link John Finch's Website Episodes written by John Finch 1960s 1961 (16 episodes) *Episode 24 (3rd March 1961) *Episode 28 (20th March 1961) *Episode 29 (22nd March 1961) *Episode 31 (29th March 1961) *Episode 34 (10th April 1961) *Episode 35 (12th April 1961) *Episode 39 (26th April 1961) *Episode 49 (31st May 1961) *Episode 55 (21st June 1961) *Episode 64 (24th July 1961) *Episode 73 (23rd August 1961) *Episode 78 (11th September 1961) *Episode 79 (13th September 1961) *Episode 86 (9th October 1961) *Episode 97 (15th November 1961) 1962 (24 episodes) *Episode 126 (26th February 1962) *Episode 130 (12th March 1962) *Episode 134 (26th March 1962) *Episode 138 (9th April 1962) *Episode 144 (30th April 1962) *Episode 145 (2nd May 1962) *Episode 146 (7th May 1962) *Episode 149 (16th May 1962) *Episode 152 (28th May 1962) *Episode 156 (11th June 1962) *Episode 160 (25th June 1962) *Episode 162 (2nd July 1962) *Episode 168 (23rd July 1962) *Episode 174 (13th August 1962) *Episode 178 (27th August 1962) *Episode 182 (10th September 1962) *Episode 184 (17th September 1962) *Episode 189 (3rd October 1962) *Episode 190 (8th October 1962) *Episode 196 (29th October 1962) *Episode 201 (14th November 1962) *Episode 203 (21st November 1962) *Episode 209 (12th December 1962) *Episode 214 (31st December 1962) 1963 (17 episodes) *Episode 217 (9th January 1963) *Episode 223 (30th January 1963) *Episode 229 (20th February 1963) *Episode 234 (11th March 1963) *Episode 239 (27th March 1963) *Episode 242 (8th April 1963) *Episode 251 (8th May 1963) *Episode 255 (22nd May 1963) *Episode 259 (5th June 1963) *Episode 265 (26th June 1963) *Episode 269 (10th July 1963) *Episode 274 (29th July 1963) *Episode 286 (9th September 1963) *Episode 291 (25th September 1963) *Episode 300 (28th October 1963) *Episode 306 (18th November 1963) *Episode 315 (18th December 1963) 1964 (17 episodes) *Episode 321 (8th January 1964) *Episode 326 (27th January 1964) *Episode 336 (2nd March 1964) *Episode 345 (1st April 1964) *Episode 346 (6th April 1964) *Episode 352 (27th April 1964) *Episode 359 (20th May 1964) *Episode 367 (17th June 1964) *Episode 371 (8th July 1964) *Episode 379 (29th July 1964) *Episode 386 (24th August 1964) *Episode 390 (7th September 1964) *Episode 401 (14th October 1964) *Episode 404 (26th October 1964) *Episode 405 (28th October 1964) *Episode 413 (25th November 1964) *Episode 416 (7th December 1964) 1965 (21 episodes) *Episode 424 (4th January 1965) *Episode 430 (25th January 1965) *Episode 435 (10th February 1965) *Episode 437 (17th February 1965) *Episode 440 (1st March 1965) *Episode 449 (31st March 1965) *Episode 454 (19th April 1965) *Episode 455 (21st April 1965) *Episode 464 (24th May 1965) *Episode 468 (7th June 1965) *Episode 474 (28th June 1965) *Episode 481 (21st July 1965) *Episode 486 (9th August 1965) *Episode 492 (30th August 1965) *Episode 493 (1st September 1965) *Episode 497 (15th September 1965) *Episode 500 (27th September 1965) *Episode 504 (11th October 1965) *Episode 508 (25th October 1965) *Episode 520 (6th December 1965) *Episode 527 (29th December 1965) 1966 (19 episodes) *Episode 533 (19th January 1966) *Episode 537 (2nd February 1966) *Episode 547 (9th March 1966) *Episode 552 (28th March 1966) *Episode 557 (13th April 1966) *Episode 570 (30th May 1966) *Episode 576 (20th June 1966) *Episode 581 (6th July 1966) *Episode 584 (18th July 1966) *Episode 588 (1st August 1966) *Episode 592 (15th August 1966) *Episode 601 (14th September 1966) *Episode 607 (5th October 1966) *Episode 614 (31st October 1966) *Episode 615 (2nd November 1966) *Episode 618 (14th November 1966) *Episode 622 (28th November 1966) *Episode 624 (5th December 1966) *Episode 628 (19th December 1966) 1967 (17 episodes) *Episode 635 (16th January 1967) *Episode 636 (18th January 1967) *Episode 638 (25th January 1967) *Episode 642 (8th February 1967) *Episode 646 (22nd February 1967) *Episode 651 (13th March 1967) *Episode 657 (3rd April 1967) *Episode 668 (10th May 1967) *Episode 680 (21st June 1967) *Episode 687 (17th July 1967) *Episode 692 (2nd August 1967) *Episode 704 (13th September 1967) *Episode 709 (2nd October 1967) *Episode 710 (4th October 1967) *Episode 715 (23rd October 1967) *Episode 720 (8th November 1967) *Episode 728 (6th December 1967) 1968 (6 episodes) *Episode 748 (14th February 1968) *Episode 763 (8th April 1968) *Episode 771 (6th May 1968) *Episode 810 (25th September 1968) *Episode 815 (14th October 1968) *Episode 822 (6th November 1968) 1969 (3 episodes) *Episode 894 (21st July 1969) *Episode 908 (8th September 1969) *Episode 917 (8th October 1969) 1970s 1970 (1 episode) *Episode 1036 (21st December 1970) Pardon the Expression *The Big Hotel Turn out the Lights *One For Yes, Two For No Episodes script edited by John Finch 1961 (21 episodes) *All episodes between Episode 88 (16th October 1961) and Episode 96 (13th November 1961) *All episodes between Episode 98 (20th November 1961) and Episode 109 (27th December 1961) 1962 (12 episodes) *All episodes between Episode 110 (1st January 1962) and Episode 121 (7th February 1962) Other Coronation Street related works *Coronation Street on the Road a.k.a "Firm Foundations" Category:Coronation Street writers Category:Coronation Street producers Category:Pardon the Expression writers Category:Turn out the Lights writers